Friday, April 24, 2009

WholeFoods D Meet-Up & The Diabetes Bunch-A'la Tokbox!

LeeAnn & yours truly. Hardcore D Chicklets!

Photo courtesy LeeAnnThill

Wednesday was quite the Diabetes Bunch Day.

I knew I had work appts late in the afternoon on Wednesday, so I’d Twittered LeeAnn over at The Butter Compartment on Tuesday to see if she wanted to meet me at the Center City Whole Foods for lunch the next day.

My world has been so crazy the past few months and my head was spinning! I always feel better after a D meet up & LeeAnn is one cool Chicklet! She Tweeted back and said she was up for it.I arrived a little early with a low blood sugar 60, ran in and quickly grabbed a cranberry juice, paid for it, gulped it, & met LeeAnn at the front door.

ME: “I was afraid I’d miss you, I had to run in and get juice – I needed it.”LEEANN: “Oh no, I just got here.” Then she looked at me and said, “OH, OK.”

Then we just talked about Whole Foods being like this super wonderland of deliciousness, and there was no need to talk about the low, or why I needed juice & felt a bit anxious.

We walk around marveling at all the prepared foods. I settled for a big colorful salad with Qunoi and 3 oatmeal cookies. I was lacking in the veggie department as of late, and WholeFoods was just the place for me to catch-up!

LeeAnn had quite the hotplate of yumminess and we sat down to chat about life, diabetes, growing up with D. We talked about how difficult it must be for parents of D kids. We discussed our pumps, and different pump options we loved, and CGMS technology. We shared with one another the jobs we loved and the jobs we didn’t, and what we wanted for our futures.

What’s really wonderful about Dmeets (big or small) is the unspoken understanding between those attending. No explanations or excuses on testing one’s blood sugars, no “Diabetes Police” questions about the food on our plates. It’s amazing to be able to sit down with someone and not get the “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” look when you take your meter and lancet.

Diabetes & all the goes with it was part of our conversation, but more importantly, it was an accepted part of what we have to do day to day to just be. Am I making any sense?

I was sad when lunch ended. LeeAnn ROCKS! We both pulled out our cameras and took pics. Unfortunately, my battery crapped out and while the pics are on my card, they won’t download. DAMN TECHNOLOGY!

Lucky for me, LeeAnn sent me over the above pic to post. I can't wait to meet up with her again!Later that night I was on Twitter and got the message from Sara, that George, & Scott were talking on something called Tokbox. It had been a long day, I was in my PJ’s, my hair was a mess, and I was sans lipstick. Did I really want to chat with my Diabetes buds in real time looking like this? The answer was YES, btw.

Then I got the Twit the Jamie and Charise were chatting as well. I thought I’d just popover and check it out, after all, I didn’t have to actually half to join in, I could just lurk.

But the minute I saw the checkerboard screen a’la the Brady Bunch, with everyone laughing and smiling, and heard their echo-e voices (they sounded like they were underwater-there's some sound quality issues if you don't wear headphones,) and I wanted in!

Cautiously I clicked on the guest sign-in and as my screen image began to take focus, I heard Scottie J say, “OMG its k2.” Then Ninjabetic chimed in,“OMG, it’s Kelly Kunik, this is great!”

Sara said, “k2, turn up your volume, we can’t hear you and say something funny!”So, I did (turn up the volume that is) and said “Hello everyone!”

The laughing was out of control and it was sometimes hard to figure out who was actually saying what. BUT:At one point I said something like, “Hey, were the Diabetes Bunch!”Charise’s daughter sang her diabetes song.Sara took video and may or may not have flashed us – For the record, I saw nothing!Tim wore a silly hat complete with hypodermic needle.At one point both Sara and Landileigh started to sing the Olsen Twin’s hit “Brother For Sale.”

George grabbed a wig and Scottie J drank his bottle of soda from a paper bag a la 40 ounces for all his Homies in cellblock Diabetes!

I flashed my meter on the screen (with a high of 234 thank you very much) and actually received applause for my number. As a group, our numbers were a bit elevated that evening, and all were cool~

Midway through the conversation I did the universal shoulder tap (my image was next to George at one point) on Ninjabetic’s shoulder, and that started a whole reaction of pokes and prods. At one point I was actually tapping Scott’s skull!

It was just so wonderful to hear my D buddies voices in real time, echo-e or not!My camera battery was still dead, so I grabbed my phone and took pic.

Not the best quality, but a great shot just the sameTokbox is pretty cool site, I loved the real time chatting and hearing everyone’s laughter.Next time, I will be wearing headphones to reduce the echo. I’ll also be wearing lipstick!

All in all, it was a pretty damn fine Diabetesalicious Day! Say that three times fast!!

10 comments:

Thanks again for the lunch invite. As always, it was great to see you - good food, good company and wonderful conversation! We were there so long that by the time I left, I was afraid my car was going to be gone because they had a sign about a 2-hr parking limit!

And I totally have to get in on this TokBox think next time. That sounds super awesome!

You and Lee Ann are two people I would love to meet. I just think we would all click.

Anyhow the TokBox thing was awesome. I was soooooo happy when you joined. I know I shouted when I saw your face! so flipping cool and for the record, I had no clue your hair was a mess and that you lacked lipstick.

LeeAnn-Whole Foods is such an addiction! I'm glad we got to hang out and enjoy it together!TokBox was so fun- U HAVE TO CHAT!!

DOCadminTokbox Slumber party in our jammies - I'M ALL FOR IT!

Cara-It was fun! I'm totally going to try to meet up witgh u in NYC, PROMISE!

Lora-I'm such a lipstick hag! Being pale with dark hair requires that you wear lipstick so you don't look 1/2dead!

George-WE would and do click!I was so excited to see you!Your kind words are greatly appreciated! Part of me still feels like the geeky 7th grader with big glasses and stringy hair who looked like Alfalfa from "The Our Gang," comedies.Joan Rivers once said,"That pretty girls want to be funny, and funny girls long to be pretty!" Your right, all our friends are beautiful and we are so blessed to have them!THANK_YOUk2

Lauren's Hope

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What People Are Saying About Kelly Kunik's Diabetesalicious Humor

"I laughed so hard I puked all over my pump -Just kidding......

Kelly's intimate knowledge of living with diabetes makes her the perfect person to poke fun at all of our little eccentricities. If laughter really is the best medicine, then Kelly should be nominated for Sturgeon General."Gary Scheiner - Certified Diabetes Educator, Owner & Operator of Integrated Diabetes Services, Author of "You Can Control Diabetes" and "How to Think Like A Pancreas."Marx Brothers Fan for life, T1 for 20 years .

"Kelly Kunik performed her Diabetes Comedy Act at the Diabetes, Exercise, & Sports Association (DESA) National meeting in Colorado Springs in June of 2007. She had the room laughing all night! It was great to see the light side of Diabetes for once...."

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"Kelly was very engaging with her humor and positive attitude in looking at life with Diabetes on a lighter side. Everyone in my Diabetes Support group lowered their glucose levels with laughter that evening!"

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Virtua Diabetes and Nutrition Svs

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"As a Diabetes Educator, I'm always looking for new ways to help patients. Kelly Kunik offers a unique way of educating patients through laughter.There's a tremendous validation in Kelly's approach - Everybody thinks that no one once else has diabetes related issues, day & day out. Whether it getting your tubing caught on a door nob; acting out with a low blood sugar, or dealing with the same old questions. Silly or serious, Kelly's observations allow patients to feel better about themselves.When people feel good about themselves, they practice betterself management. IT'S ALL GOOD.We all had so much fun the night Kelly spoke to my Type 1 support group."